Lebanon, Tenn. - - The Cumberland men's soccer team is set to travel to face off against the No. 12 seed Missouri Valley University this Saturday, in their second-round match of the NAIA Men's Soccer National Championship.
Missouri Valley is one of only three schools in the NAIA to host both men's and women's National tournament soccer games this season and play on a turf field. Tickets can be purchased in advance of the game through the valleywillroll.com website, or the MVC Athletics mobile app, and will allow admission into both games.
Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m., following the Viking's women's action against Hastings (Neb.) and both live stats and
video will be available for the match. While live stats have no charge to look at, access to the live stream will have to be purchased.
The Phoenix were not seeded in the national tournament after a 12-4-3 season, but were given an automatic bid after winning the Mid-South Conference Tournament Championship against No. 4 ranked Lindsey Wilson.
Two of Cumberland's four losses came in their first two games of the season, as the team was attempting to find its identity. Turning their fortunes around however, the Phoenix have been scorching hot since the end of September, going nine games unbeaten with three victories against ranked teams in their last four games.
Coming into this weekend's match the Phoenix have been one of the most stellar defensive teams in the nation, only conceding four more goals than the nations best. In 18 games Cumberland has let in just 12 goals, averaging 0.67 goals against per game.
CU is led by standout midfielders Robbie Lyons and John Azar, as well as the goalkeeping prowess of Jack McCarthy, all of whom were elected to MSC All-Conference teams. Lyons picked up his first player of the week this season after scoring a hat trick against Bethel University, who was ranked No. 11 at the time, and followed that up with a brace against Freed-Hardeman in the opening round of the MSC Tournament.
Managing one of the best defensive units in the nation, Jack McCarthy was selected as the Mid-South's lone First-Team All-Conference shot stopper. McCarthy has played every minute possible for the Phoenix this season, building a strong trifecta with captain Cathal Coyne and star freshman Alejandro Carrillo.
Hosting the Phoenix is the Heart of America Athletic Conferences regular season and postseason champions, Missouri Valley. Similarly to Cumberland, the Vikings started their season off slowly, taking four games to find their first win of the season. Since that point MVU has won 13 games and only dropped 2, coming into Saturday at 13-5 overall.
Defensively, Missouri Valley is led by senior midfielder and defender, Kazuki Hashimoto. He earned the Heart Men's Soccer Defender of the Year award, and led five overall selections to the Heart All-Conference First Team. Hashimoto is a three-time selection to the all-conference first team, and is a two-time All-American. He anchored a defense that allowed a 0.93 goals per game average. He also scored one goal and added one assist this season.
In the attacking third of the field, the Vikings are led by junior forward Sam Green who has 15 goals to his name, along with 8 assists, averaging more than two points per game this season. He was one of Missouri Valley's four remaining First-Team All-Conference selections, along with junior midfielder Tate Richards, junior midfielder Yoshiki Igarashi, and sophomore goalkeeper Vicente Benitez Delgado.
Additionally, Head Coach Vladimir Simic was named the Heart Men's Soccer Coach of the Year after guiding the team to a second-straight regular season Heart title. The Vikings finished the regular season with a 10-5 overall record, and a 9-2 record in the Heart. This is the fourth time during his tenure at Missouri Valley that Simic has won the conference coaching award (2011, 2014, 2017).
